Shia leader calls off stir

Besides meeting All India Muslim Personal Law Board president Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadvi, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday also met president of the People?s Democratic Front and Shia leader Maulana Kalbe Jawad. He assured Jawad that problems facing his community would be solved at the earliest.

Besides meeting All India Muslim Personal Law Board president Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadvi, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday also met president of the People’s Democratic Front and Shia leader Maulana Kalbe Jawad. He assured Jawad that problems facing his community would be solved at the earliest.

Yadav met the Shia leader to persuade him to withdraw his court arrest programme, which Jawad did, outside the district magistrate residence from Monday.

The chief minister told Jawad that issues facing the Shias would be sorted out within 15 days. The Shia leader, who had been agitating for long for restoration of three attached mosques, had announced a month-long court arrest programme.

In a memorandum to the chief minister, the PDF chief has demanded Rs 20 lakh aid to Shia Waqf Board for release of 25 months salaries of the employees and an inquiry into the violence in Sultanul Madaris on June 30. The police had arrested Maulana Ishaq and others of the institution in this connection on July 7.
Jawad’s other demands included a holiday on 13th Rajab and 21st Ramazan (birthday and martyrdom day of Imam Ali respectively), freeing Ganj-e-Shahidan graveyard in Gomti Nagar of encroachment and stalling allotment of Hussainbad Trust properties to open liquor shops.

Talking to Hindustan Times, Jawad said Sultanul Madaris had become a centre of BJP activities. He alleged that Lalji Tandon was instrumental in attachment of three Shia mosques. He said Sultanul Madaris Ulema (clerics) and the All India Shia Personal Law Board members had been supporting the BJP.